Seta 3-5 mm, straight to some-what arcuate. Capsule when mature narrowly ovoid to nearly cylindric, 3-5 mm, dull brown to rusty-brown, upper face not strongly differentiated from lower face, slightly oblique to seta or nearly erect. Spores 12-13 µm.

Capsules mature late summer-fall. Soft decaying decorticated logs in deciduous to mixed forest; low elevations (20-150 m); Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont.; Mass., Mich., N.Y., N.C., Vt., Va.; e Asia (Russian Far East).

Buxbaumia piperi has occasionally been confused with this species, but the sporangium shape (narrowly ovate to cylindric) and the shorter, often arcuate seta separate B. minakatae; B. piperi has a longer, straight seta and ovate sporangium. A report of B. indusiata (A. J. Grout 1928-1940, vol. 1) was based on misidentifications of eastern North American material.